


One Word Microfiction

by SophieRipley



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Microfiction, One Shot Collection, Short One Shot, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-19 10:06:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 8,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9435407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophieRipley/pseuds/SophieRipley
Summary: This is a collection of short microfictions of less than 500 words, each based on a one-word prompt. They range from angst to romance and fluff, and are each a stand-alone one shot.





	1. Magnet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by DrummerMax64

She found him again.  That _fox_.  For the fourth time in as many weeks, Judy was approaching him on the street to talk to him.  Internally, she cringed.  Outwardly, she put on her Professional Face.

“Nicholas Wilde.  This is becoming a habit.”

“Lieutenant Carrots!”  Nick stood from the bench at which he was sitting and put his paws in his pockets.  “What did I do this time to deserve such an honor?”

“Cut the smarm, Wilde.”  Judy pulled a photo out of her pocket.

“Smarm?”  Nick put a paw on his chest dramatically.  “You wound me, madam.  It’s pure flirtation, I’ll have you know.”

Judy didn’t smirk.  She definitely didn’t.  It was a twitch.  A tic of irritation and definitely not a smirk.   “Do you know this mammal, Mr. Wilde?”  She showed him the photo.

He barely looked at it.  “Uh huh, I told you I know everyone.”

“That’s why I’m here, Mr. Wilde.”  Judy sighed.  “I have no other leads.  Who is he?  Where is he?”

Nick shrugged.  “They call him Savage, but I don’t know his real name.  Last I heard, he was working the docks in Canal District.  You here about the heist?”

Judy narrowed her eyes at him.  “What do you know about the heist?”

Nick chuckled.  “Have dinner with me, Fluff.”

“Not on your life.”  She put her paws on her hips, and her foot began tapping at a prodigious speed.  “Tell me what you know.”

Nick looked away and sniffed delicately.  “I am but a poor homeless fox, officer, and it’s hard to remember things on an empty stomach.”

Judy stared at him for a long moment, trying to convince herself that her desire to go to dinner with him was borne solely from the need to get information on this case.

“You’re hustling me, Wilde.  You’re no more homeless than I am.”

Nick looked back at her with a wide grin.  “And you’re going to agree, I can tell.  I do know more than you about that heist, I can help you.”

“…fine.”  Judy put the picture away.  “But I choose the restaurant.”  As she escorted him to her car, she sighed to herself.  He was like a magnet, she always found herself drawn to him.

He was a good informant.  That was all.  Yep.  That’s definitely all she felt for the fox.


	2. Hard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by ryutolbx

“Get that tail in gear, fluff butt! _Move!_ ”  The polar bear—Major Friedkin, she insisted was her name but Nick thought she was a damned dirty liar, her name was Satan—screamed at him from the sidelines.  Nick groaned in irritation but dug deeper into his flagging strength reserves to push himself faster on the track.  Thank all the gods today wasn’t biomes obstacle course day and they were just working on “endurance training”, which basically translated to running five kilometers as fast as they can over and over, and hope they didn’t die.

Nick was tired.  And he was getting royally pissed off at this polar bear shouting at him all the time.  The woman hated him, and he hated her equally in return.  One day when he was a high-ranked detective in the ZPD he’d march over here and give her a piece of his mind. 

For now, though, he put his head down and continued to run, ignoring the other cadets around him and focusing solely on keeping his feet moving forward, ever forward.  Nick might have given up weeks ago, except that he knew Judy did this.  Not only that, Judy passed at the top of her class, and he’d be damned if he would fail where the cute little meter maid succeeded.

It helped that she gave him an ultimatum.  Nick ran her words through his mind at least twenty times a day.  The bunny was clever:  she knew, somehow, that if she gave him something to look forward to, he’d push all the harder.  His old life wasn’t “easy” necessarily, but it was simple.  Nick was able to do get by.  What he was working toward, on the other hand, was a lot of difficult complicated work that he wasn’t accustomed to.  It was hard, but it would be worth it.

He thought back to the conversation he had with Judy before he left for the Academy.

_“If you pass the Academy, I’ll give you a kiss.”_

_“What if I fail?”_

_Judy smirked in that sly way she did.  “Don’t fail.”_

Nick knew she’d hustled him again.  It wasn’t even a huge reward.  Some might call the whole setup juvenile and adolescent.  But for Nick, it was _something_ , and that was more than anyone had ever given him before.  It was enough. 

Training was hard.  But it would be worth it.


	3. Snuggle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by notactualusername

It was cold, but Judy didn’t care.  Cold deep enough to sap strength from the hardiest of animals lurked just beyond reach, waiting and willing to drive her to devastating stillness, but she had a few devastating weapons of her own to use against the cold.

Judy had thick wooden walls, a cabin erected as a bastion of warmth against the forces of winter.

Judy had a fire in the fireplace, dangerously hot but controlled carefully to kill the cold and hold it at bay.

Judy had a mug of hot chocolate, rich and creamy and mostly depleted, to push the cold out of herself and warm herself from the inside out.

Judy had a thick blanket wrapped tightly around, further protection against the cold.

And most importantly, Judy had a fox.  He was her fox, and his fur was thick and poofy, his arms and tail wrapped around her under the blanket, the heat from his own body blasting into her.  The cold would never take her, so long as she had her fox, and she knew he’d never leave her.

She sighed in contentment, gazing into the fire.  Nick dipped his head to kiss the base of her ears.

“Are you warm enough?” asked Nick, his bold delicious voice soft and concerned.

“Mmm,” hummed Judy, tilting her head up to capture his lips briefly with hers.  “Definitely.  Don’t go anywhere.”

“Never,” whispered Nick, tightening his arms around her.  She snuggled into his chest, as relaxed as she’d ever been.


	4. Armageddon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by anonymous

The word Armageddon had never held much meaning to Judy.  Just like Apocalypse and End Of The World, they were esoteric, ethereal, distant.  The words used to give her the image of fire and flames, bombs and blood and wreckage.  Cities would burn, buildings would fall, massive amounts of life would be snuffed out.

Movies had been made to depict those very ideas.  Video games set in the aftermath thereof.  Novels describing the survivors scraping by.  They were evocative.  They were powerful. 

Judy never really understood what “Armageddon” meant in common parlance.  She’d see the fires and blood in her mind’s eye, but nothing in her truly respected the reality of the concept. 

It was something so much simpler, and so much more complex, than nuclear bombs falling on major cities that led her to truly appreciate the full meaning of the word.

It was a flash of light, a magnificent blast of sound, and the smell of fear.  It was the sharp taste of blood in her mouth as she struggled to help the slumped figure before her.

The old children’s story said “the sky is falling!”  Judy had always known that was silly, the sky couldn’t fall.  But now Judy could describe for you precisely how the sky looked before it broke.

Judy knew that Armageddon, Apocalypse, the End Of The World, was encompassed in the sensation of her chest breaking apart as her heart shattered.

She could sum up the meaning in these few words:  “Nicholas Wilde.  Officer, father, friend, husband.  He will be missed.”


	5. Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by Mama-Sally, aka SallyWhite92

Nick was confused when he woke.  It took him a long time to remember what happened, and when he did it was all muddled.  He remembered running patrol with Judy, and he remembered the hour getting late.  They were wrapping up for the evening, and were accosted by a large mammal.  Now, Nick wasn’t certain what species it was.  A bear, perhaps, but that was part of the memory he had lost.  Beyond that, he remembered Judy being struck and then a lot of pain.

If he had to guess, he’d jumped in to protect his partner.  Like an idiot. 

A loving idiot.

Nick took a breath and looked around, still unsure where he was.  The room was dimly lit, a soft hum and beeping coming from a machine to his left; the machine connected to his arm via several tubes.

A hospital, then.  He was in a hospital bed, and on his right was a familiar figure:  Judy, her head laid on the bed next to his hip, fast asleep.  Her shoulder and upper arm was bandaged, but otherwise she looked fine.  Nick himself, however, was not fine.  He quickly assessed himself:  it hurt to breathe and he had bandages around his chest; his arm felt like it was on fire, and it had a cast around it; most of his body felt bruised, clumps of fur were missing all over his side, and he felt weak and light-headed.

“You’re awake.”  Judy’s voice was rough with sleep, and she rubbed her eyes as she sat up.  “How do you feel?”

“Like a bear had his way with me,” said Nick.  His voice was ragged and hoarse, and talking hurt.

“Close enough, it was a grizzly on drugs.”

“Right.  And how are you?”

Judy glanced at the bandage on her arm and shook her head.  “I’m fine.  I got backhanded and landed on a broken bottle.  I probably won’t even scar.  You, though…you’re an idiot.  You didn’t even hesitate, you just jumped on the bear.  You do remember you’re only four feet tall, right?  He could have killed you.”

“But he didn’t.”  Nick grabbed the bed control and pushed the button to raise himself to a seated position.  “And I betcha I’ll scar.  I’ve never had a scar before.  Think my girlfriend will find them sexy?”

Judy snorted and shook her head again.  “Nick, you’re an idiot.”

“A sexy idiot, though.”

Judy stood and stretched briefly, then delicately kissed Nick on the nose.  “A sexy idiot,” she agreed.  “I’ll find your doctor, let him know you’re awake.”  She left, limping slightly, and Nick smiled.

He’d always wanted some scars.


	6. Bleed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by DrummerMax64

Do you still think of me?  I like to think we were so good together, but now memories of the bad times cut me like knives and memories of the good times pierce me like bullets.  Memory is like that, you know?  A single event, a single mistake, can color all the memories associated with it  until nothing is the same as it was.

Do you remember when we met, so long ago?  I still think about it from time to time.  You assumed stereotypes about me, and I did the same about you.  We hated each other, and it took our lives being threatened to bring us together.  How cliché, right?  But it happened, and we became friends.  We even became coworkers.  And soon enough, you asked me out.

Is it nice where you are?  Even if you’ve forgotten about me, I hope you’re doing well.  I still live in our house at the edge of town.  Sometimes the pain is too much and I want to move, to leave the ghosts of our marriage behind.  But then I remind myself that this is my home, and our children grew up here.  It wouldn’t be fair to move them across the city just so I can forget.

Does it upset you that I think about forgetting you?  I don’t really want to forget, you know.  It’s just the pain talking.  I’m stronger than that.  You taught me to be strong, and I still try to honor those lessons. 

Do you remember my last words to you?  I joked, said that your blood was staining my uniform.  I told you that you were paying for the dry cleaning when you got better.  You were bleeding all over me, and I knew I was going to lose you.  Even as I said those words I wished I could have taken them back, but you laughed.  You tried to laugh, anyway, and I suppose if you had to die you’d have wanted to die with a smile on your face. 

Was that okay?  Was it okay to joke in your last moments?  I still wish I had told you how I felt about you, told you how much I’d miss you.  I can’t help but feel like that would have been so much more meaningful.  But I still remember you telling me so many times that you wanted to go laughing.  I hope my joke was okay.

You know I loved you, right?  You know I still love you, years after you’re gone.  I’ve never forgotten you, and I’ve never stopped loving you.  We were so good together.  The first fox and rabbit to marry.  I still wear the ring, you know. 

Did you wait for me?  I hope you did.  I made you wait a long time, my love, but I’m coming to you soon.  I can feel it in my bones, my end is coming soon.  Please wait just a little longer for me.  I’ll be there soon.


	7. Laughter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was prompted by Steel.metal14.

Nick lost a bet.  And it was all that damn dirty rabbit’s fault.  She’d hustled him, and he fell for it.  The two had been out drinking—a rare sort of date night, to be sure, but one which they nonetheless did in regular intervals some several months apart—and they had spotted a very attractive arctic vixen on her own nearby.  Judy caught Nick eyeing the vixen.

“Hey Slick,” said Judy, who was into her third drink compared to Nick’s second and who was still less intoxicated than him, “I don’t think she’s your bun.  But hey, I’ll make a bet with you.  I bet you I could get her phone number faster than you.”

“Oh yeah?”  Nick pointed at the bunny confidently.  “And what do you expect to get from me?”

“I expect to see you wear a dress to Bogo’s party next weekend,” replied the bunny.  “A dress of my choosing.”

Nick snorted.  “Not gonna happen, Fluff.  What do I get when I win?”

Judy smirked at him.  “I’ll do that thing you’ve been begging me to do.”

Nick stared at her for only a moment before shoving his paw in his and shaking on it.  “Done deal, Carrots.”

What he had been unaware of was the fact that Judy knew the vixen already, so a quick “hey Skye I lost your number, what was it again?” was all it took. 

That’s why he was now in a slinky red dress cut to accentuate his natural lines and grace, walking into the ZPD one evening the following weekend.  As he did, his bunny on his arm wearing a very nice charcoal tux of her own, the crowd of officers and Plus Ones gradually fell silent as more and more attention was given to Nick.

Then the laughter started.  The only two mammals in the room who weren’t laughing were Clawhauser (who had turned decidedly pink) and Bogo (who was pinching the bridge of his snout in exasperation).  Even the rabbit at his side was starting to chuckle along with the crowd, undoubtedly proud of her prank. 

The joke was on her, though.  He looked _fabulous_ in this dress.


	8. Politics

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by Wesleyhendrixlives.

The sofa on which Judy sat was, contrary to her emotional state, quite comfortable.  It sat across from a nice desk in a moderately sized office.  Behind the desk sat a rabbit woman in a smart suit, whose name was Jessica Binks.  She gazed at Judy with open interest behind a professional smile.  Judy, on the other hand, sat defensively, arms crossed in front of her chest, legs crossed at the ankles, and face set in a glare.

“Judy, you know why you’re here?”  The woman spoke kindly, and the kind tone served only to set Judy more on edge.

“Of course,” retorted Judy with a snap.  “I’m here because the mayor’s office gave Bogo an ultimatum:  make me come here, or fire me.”

“That’s not exactly—“ started the therapist, but Judy interrupted her.

“That’s _exactly_ what this is, _doctor_.”  Judy uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, pointing a finger at the woman.  “Your job is to change me.  I was rounded up like a _criminal_ when all I did was file for a _marriage license_!”

“Judy—“started the therapist again.

“My _name_ is Officer _Hopps_.”

Dr. Binks took a slow breath and sighed.  “Officer Hopps, you filed for a marriage license for you and a fox.  As an officer of the law, you know that’s not legal.  The mayor’s office—“

“Don’t try to justify this.”  Judy leaned back into the sofa.  “The mayor decided that it was unbecoming for their top officer to pursue a ‘depraved lifestyle’.  It’s _politics_ , pure and simple.  Swinton is up for reelection and the anti-marriage equality faction is very loud.  That’s all this is.  Because I love a fox, I’m a threat to her campaign.”

“Let’s talk about the fox,” said Dr. Binks.  “Nick Wilde, I believe?  Why are you with him?”

Judy stared at the other rabbit for a moment before rolling her eyes.  “Nick is a very intelligent, very kind mammal who understands and accepts who I am.”

“He’s also a predator, Officer.”

Judy leveled a look at her.  “I know.  That’s _why_ he’s right for me.”

Binks’s intrigued expression grew.  “Explain that?”

Judy sighed.  “I’m very driven.  I’m quick on my feet, I never back down, I take what I want.  My twin Virgil used to call me the Determinator.  I’m fast-paced, I’m aggressive, and I never let anyone tell me what I can and can’t be.

“Do you know any rabbit that could handle that?  Any that could keep up?”

Binks steepled her fingers.  “And Officer Wilde can?”

“Yes,” said Judy softly.  A passion entered her voice as she looked away.  “Nick is as aggressive as I am.  He’s as driven, in his own way.  He thinks faster and reacts more intelligently to any situation than any buck I’ve ever met.  He’s strong and willful in ways no rabbit buck can be. He’s more like me than anyone of my own kind.”

Doctor Binks smiled slightly and made a note:  _Advise no treatment:  patient healthy._


	9. Anniversary

Judy drove the speed limit and not one mile per hour faster through evening traffic.  “Traffic” was a heavy word for it:  the transition between diurnal and nocturnal life in the city had passed already and there was in reality a distinct _lack_ of traffic, truth be told.  She specifically waited to leave her apartment until she did to avoid the evening rush, or what Nick always liked to call the “changeover clusterfuck”.  Of course, the other reason she left when she did was because this time, just after dark when everything was quiet and calm, was Nick’s favorite time of day.  They had a date that evening and though she was going to be a little late, it would be fine.  Nick wouldn’t mind, and it was a fine evening.

She looked over at the single red rose on the seat next to her and remembered the day they first decided to go out.  It was raining in Savannah Central that day.  They’d been corresponding back and forth via text and muzzletime while he was at the Police Academy; before he left there was a definite emotional tension between them, and not the bad kind.  The long months of training served only to heighten that, such that the day he returned to the city proper Judy met him at the train station and didn’t even let him get out a joke or sarcastic quip before she leaped into his arms and squeezed him tightly.  It had surprised them both, but they both let themselves melt into the embrace and held each other for a long time. 

When finally they broke apart, Nick smirked as he was wont to do.  “I take it that’s a yes, then,” quipped the fox.

Judy of course asked him what he meant, and his smirk grew.  “I was going to ask you to go out with me, but you glomped me before I could get the words out.”

Judy’s blush was rivaled only by Nick’s.  That very night they went to dinner, saw a movie, and went to Judy’s apartment.  They didn’t consummate their relationship that evening at Nick’s insistence, but the cuddling was divine.  What followed was two years of the most fulfilling relationship Judy had ever experienced. 

Judy arrived at her destination and was pulled from her reminiscence by the need to park.  She did so and stepped out of her car, rose and picnic basket in hand, and began walking down the stone path, flanked on all sides by carefully cultivated grass, hedges, and trees.  She smelled the rose she’d gotten for Nick and smiled.  The first time Nick had given her a rose she’d eaten it right there; Nick hadn’t known that roses were a favored snack for rabbits and it had taken some explanation.  It had become an inside joke, and the day they married she ate her bouquet just to get a laugh.

She saw Nick just ahead; the picture of him at their wedding, clad in his tartan kilt and beaming like he’d won the lottery, was still set permanently into the granite headstone.  She knelt next to it and gently placed the rose in the attached vase, then placed a soft kiss on the top of the headstone.

Judy sat and took her dinner from the basket.  “Hey, Nick,” said the bunny with a soft smile.  “I know I’m late.  You’ll never guess what Clawhauser did tonight.” 

It was her ritual, every year on their anniversary.  She did not cry; the tears and grief had faded long ago.  Instead, she simply enjoyed the quiet evening with her husband.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This ran over 500 words, but I'm sure you'll forgive me. Nobody prompted this one, it just came to me. I felt it would be better as a microfiction rather than a stand-alone one-shot, so here it is.


	10. Dizzy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by DrummerMax64

“Where is the rabbit?”

Nick sighed, would have slumped in his seat if he wasn’t already limp.  The chains binding him to the chair rattled as he chuckled.  “Foxy Loxy ran from the Big Bad Bun,” said Nick.  It was the latest reply to the long string of questions, all the same inquiry, all spoken by the wolf bitch pounding him into a pulp.

The wolf started to growl, then backhanded him so hard across the face his head swam.  “I’m getting tired of your games, Mr. Wilde.  The pain ends the moment you tell me where she is.”

Nick grinned at her, a macabre sight what with the blood dripping through his teeth.  “She’s _right behind you_ ,” snarled Nick.

The wolf smacked him again, on the other side of his face.  “If you don’t tell me what I want to know, I’ll kill you and find Naomi.  Sweet girl, I hear.  Smart as a whip.  She’ll tell me where her mother is, or she’ll die too.”

Nick’s blood ran cold.  He raised his head from its slump and glared at the wolf.  “Don’t you dare threaten my _daughter_ , you bitch.”

The wolf leaned in close, her muzzle brushing against the length of his.  “Tell me where Judy Hopps is hiding and this will all end.”

“Why are you after her?”

The wolf leaned back enough to look into Nick’s eyes.  “You know very well why I want her.”

He did.  Two weeks ago, he and Judy were on patrol and caught a nipped up young wolf speeding.  When they pulled him out of the vehicle to perform a sobriety test, he became belligerent and through a series of accidents the wolf ended up severely injured.  He’d perished before the ambulance arrived, and when his only family—his older sister—was informed, they found out the hard way that she was a professional killer.

She came for them twice.  The first time Judy and Nick managed to escape, and fled to the ZPD.  The second time, Judy caught a bullet during the escape.  She was taken to the hospital under a false name, hiding from the wolf while the ZPD attempted trace the wolf’s whereabouts.  She found Nick three days later, and it became clear she wasn’t aware of Judy’s injury.  That was two days ago, and Nick had been in her custody since.  He knew he was about to die, but she’d threatened his daughter.  Nick swore off conning years before, had promised Judy he would never hustle again.  It was a sacrifice he had been willing to make.  Now, he could see no other alternative. 

One last con. 

One last hustle. 

To save his daughter.

He sighed, turned his head, and spit a gout of blood.  Then, he lied.  “I’ll take you to her.  She’s in a warehouse off Banyon Street, the old Wilde Times building.”  It was the very opposite direction of where Judy was located.  The wolf would never find the funeral home.

He’d make sure of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that happened. If there's enough interest I might make this microfiction into a fully fledged story eventually. Enjoy!
> 
> So due to a number of very serious issues in my personal life I might drop off the face of the net for awhile. I don't want to give you guys a sob story, so I won't. But I'll say this: I've set up a ko-fi account, and you're more than welcome to donate if you want. Any little bit helps. I love you guys, and I hope you're doing well.


	11. Guardian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by Mindl3ss.

She was an arctic fox.  That alone made it worth the effort, but she was also a wealthy and _well-known_ arctic fox.  I saw her on ZNN yesterday, being interviewed about one of her novels.  I didn’t pay attention to the actual interview, but the novel in question was one of the few she wrote that wasn’t straight up porn.  Some kind of cop drama and now they’re making a movie of it. 

Asinine capitalist bullshit.  And that ridiculous vixen is making big bucks off it.  I’m the only one in Zootopia who still sees foxes for what they are.  But it doesn’t matter.  I’ll get mine.  I’ve spent the last three days researching.  I know where she’s staying, where she’s going, and what she looks like.  She’ll give me every dime she has on her and if she doesn’t…well, the city morgue needs _something_ to do.  Miss Kaine is a fox, and female to boot.  She’s a geek on top of that.  There’s no way she’ll be able to hurt a wolf like me. 

I lean against the wall of a closed shop along a quiet street between the Gilded Den Hotel and Ugbaja’s Native Cuisine.  I’ve eaten at Ugbaja’s, expensive, specializing in traditional Lion dishes.  One of the most expensive places in the city, so I’m not surprised that uppity vixen went there tonight.  I know she’ll be along this way at some point.

I hear her coming.  Her rough but feminine voice is easy to recognize, but it means she’s with someone.  I glance down the road toward her as I pinch out my cigarette and see she’s with a rabbit.  No problem then.  A rabbit is just as easy to handle as a fox.  Growl a little and they soil themselves in fear.

“Well, yeah,” the rabbit was saying, “it was certainly unusual.  But I kinda liked it, actually.”  The bunny was cute.  Feminine curves, violet eyes, white fur with black spots.  Three lines across her jaw and neck where the fur parted, claw scars so she’s no stranger to predation.

The vixen starts to respond, but I push myself off the wall and step in front of them, cutting her off.  I draw a pocket knife and flick it open, towering over the pair.  “You’ll give me whatever money you’re carrying, as well as your credit and debit cards,” I say with a growl in my voice, “or I’ll take it from you.”

The vixen’s breath catches and her eyes widen, but the bunny surprises me by glaring.  “I don’t think so,” she says.

I narrow my eyes.  “Run away home, bunny.  I’m taking your girlfriend.  You don’t have to get hurt.”

The bunny adjusts her stance and calmly palms a shiny curved object:  a knife of some kind.  “I said… _no_.”

I hesitate.  It’s not just her trained bearing, or the fox’s lack of fear, or the very deadly looking knife in the rabbit’s paw.  The whole situation gives me chills and I find myself not a little afraid.  I didn’t get where I am today by ignoring my intuition and so I take a step back, and then flee.  When faced with more deadly predators than oneself, flight is always the correct solution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the first person POV is sort of difficult for some people, but I felt it was the best way to do this. Not sure why. I'm also aware my tenses might be a little wonky, and if that's the case I apologize. 
> 
> To those who are following _Ghosts and Faded Dreams_ : I was mistaken when I said Selaxes was supposed to be back last week. He should be back this weekend sometime, but I haven't heard from him yet so don't hold me to that. I haven't heard from him in a little while, so I don't know anything for certain, just that he does plan to return when he is able. When he does, we'll hopefully get started on the next chapter. We'll see.


	12. Patience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by NiraD.

Ciara sighed and stretched in her seat as the bunny prattled on about ZPD drama.  It wasn’t that she was  _boring_ , necessarily, or that she didn’t enjoy talking to the bunny, but she was accustomed to her quiet life alone in the apartment in which she’d lived for fifty years.  Her son and his bunny had been over to visit every other weekend for several months now and Ciara was still trying to become accustomed to the additional social interaction.  Some weekends it was all she could do to continue being patient with the younger woman.  She looked over at Judy and couldn’t help but smile despite her discomfort.  Her son Nick was laid across the couch, his head—massive compared to the bunny—nestled in Judy’s lap.  He lay completely still, breathing slowly and evenly as she absently pulled her blunt claws through the fur of his head and ears while she talked.  Nick had long fallen asleep, and Judy either didn’t notice or didn’t mind. 

Something warm swelled in Ciara’s breast.  Nick had always had trouble sleeping unless he was completely alone, ever since he was eight years old.  Even as an adult it was a problem.  He’d admitted to her once that relationships he’d been in had ended because he couldn’t relax enough to sleep in the same room with the people he was dating.  He didn’t understand why he was like that, didn’t know what to do about it, but he had been certain it would lead to him being alone for the rest of his life.  Ciara knew, of course.  She was a mother, so of _course_ she knew:  Nick had trouble trusting others.  It was that simple. 

And here he lay, sleeping deeply in the lap of a _rabbit_ , of all things.

Judy paused in her petting and her speech and tilted her head at Ciara.  “Are…are you okay?  Did I say something wrong?”

Ciara’s gaze shot up from the woman’s paws to her face and sniffed.  She pawed at her eyes, realizing she’d begun crying.  “No no,” said Ciara with a chuckle.  “I’m fine, sweetheart.  I just…would you excuse me for just a moment?  I think I’ll make us some tea.  Chamomile, since it’s so late.”

“Oh no,” said Judy, looking around at the dark window, “We’re keeping you up!  We should go, I’m sorry.”  She started to sit up, but Ciara motioned for her to stop.

“Nonsense.”  Ciara stood and made her way through her cluttered living room toward the kitchen.  “I stay up most of the night anyway usually, you just sit there and relax.  I’m old, Judy, that means I have lots and lots of patience.”

Judy relaxed with an uncertain smile, and Ciara busied herself for a few minutes in the kitchen preparing some tea while getting control of her emotions.  She’d always been uncertain of Judy, but now….

Her son trusted her.  That was enough.  All it took for Ciara to see that was a little patience.

When she returned to the living room, Judy’s head was lowered, her arms wrapped around Nick’s bigger head gently.  She’d dozed off and in her sleep she wore a gentle smile.

Ciara draped a blanket over the pair and let them sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this series tends to see a lot of angst, but here's a little minor dose of fluff for you to even it out a little. Hope you guys like it!
> 
> Those of you who follow Selaxes probably already know, but he's been having some issues with internet access. He was able to get online a few days ago long enough to post a chapter of one of his own stories and get in touch with me, and I anticipate a return proper in a week or two.


	13. Grooming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by Notactualusername.

It was a ritual, of a sort, performed weekly.  Every Friday after work and before the weekend began, they would collect themselves.  In the evening after dinner and before bed, they would gather in the living room.  Sometimes hers, sometimes his, always alone but not lonely with each other. 

Off the clothes came and out the stool came and one sat down before the other.  She was always first, because he would never accept it otherwise.  And out would come the soft-bristled brush, pulled gently, lovingly, through the fur of her head and ears, large hot paws being indecently tender as they worked their way down her neck and over her shoulders and along her spine.  He would take great care to not be rough around her more sensitive areas, and in the comfortable silence between them he’d finish off with a soft kiss to her cheek.

Then they switched places, and she was given the brush.  Like him, she started from the top and worked her way down, luxuriating in the right to pull her smaller fingers through his fur, a right given only to her.  She’d be no less gentle, no less tender, and she’d leave his tail for last.  _Your magnificence_ , she’d called it.  _Your crown.  Your fortune_.  She’d loved the long, bushy, expressive appendage, and she always would.  Brushing it out was a privilege.  She felt like a priestess being allowed to tend the sacred instruments, but she’d never tell him that because he would think she held him _above_ her, her master, and that was not true.  His insecurity would corrupt the sentiment and so she held it within, a prayer to whatever powers blessed them. 

She would never know that he did the very same, each and every week.  She would never know that he cried thanks to the heavens every time she smiled at him and every time she kissed him.  That he felt undeserving of such a little miracle as she. 

But she didn’t need to know, in order to know.  She felt it in the way his paws pulled the brush through her fur like an acolyte caring for ancient treasures, and he felt it in the way she stroked his tail, and they both felt it in the comfortable energy that bounded between them when they were done with their grooming. 

And finally, they’d turn to face each other and she would kiss his hand and say, “I love you, Nick.”

And he would kiss her nose and say, “I know.”

Later, when they lay together in bed and he was wrapped around her like so much armor, when he was certain she was asleep, he’d whisper into the darkness, “I love you, too, Judy.”  He would never know that she always heard him, but he knew.


	14. Fallen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by Mindl3ss.

“ _HOPPS!  MY OFFICE!”_ The buffalo’s shout was heard by the entire precinct, and was followed by an unsettling silence.  No more than a minute later, Bogo’s office door opened and the rabbit presented herself, ears laid back, head down, before his desk.  Bogo pointed to the bandages wrapping her torso and neck.

“How bad is it?” he asked quietly.

“I’ll live,” replied Judy.  “Doc says I’m lucky.  I’ll be recovering for a few weeks.”

Bogo grunted a reply, then stood, knuckles pressed to the surface of his desk.  “Good,” he growled, and as he spoke his voice rose in volume until he was shouting.  “Then do you mind telling me _what you thought you were doing?!_ ”

Hopps stared at the ground, jaw clenched tightly for a moment, eyes squeezed shut to forestall a retort, or perhaps tears.  “D-doing my job, sir.  The jackal would have really hurt Mr. and Mrs. Lupin.  I was saving lives.”

“ _WOLVES_ ,” shouted Bogo, making Hopps cringe.  His voice lowered.  “They were _wolves_ , Hopps.  Six times your size and ten times more durable.”  His voice fell even further to a dangerous rumble.  “When will you get it through your tiny head that you are not _invulnerable?_ How many more times do I have to be called for an ‘officer down’ with your name on it?”

She squeezed her eyes shut again and a tear found its way into the fur on her cheek.  Her silence was booming.

Bogo sighed. Then he made a decision he’d never made before:  to share.  He reached down and lifted the rabbit up gently and set her down on the top of his desk, then he sat and opened a drawer, drawing from it two small bound notebooks.  He opened one to reveal a page of wallet-sized photos, one each of every officer at Precinct One.  Judy herself had a place of honor on page one, her bright grin showing off her uneven front teeth. 

Bogo flipped through slowly, showing her each page of pictures nestled in their individual plastic pouches.  “Every officer under my command, Hopps.”

“…why are you showing me this?”  She looked up at him with wet, confused eyes and he felt his chest tighten. 

“So I can show you this.”  He opened the other notebook, identical to the first except that none of the faces were familiar to Hopps. 

None except the last.  “Higgins.”

Bogo nodded.  “I moved the picture to this notebook immediately after the funeral.  Do you get it now, Hopps?  I carry this second book with me wherever I go.  To remind me of the cost of what we do.  So I never forget the fallen. 

“Do not make me add you to that burden.”

She understood.  He could see it in her eyes.


	15. Cadence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was prompted by Aeonferal. Sorry it took so long.

The venue was packed, not a seat left open, yet it was very quiet except for the music playing.  The Zootopia Grand Orchestra sat upon the stage, instruments in paw, and they performed with all of their skill.  Judy had only come here originally because her vixen wanted to come; she’d never had tremendous interest in classical music.  But here she sat next to Skye, their paws clasped, and she couldn’t help but to be moved by the experience.  Judy looked over to white fox next to her, saw her eyes closed and tears flowing, shrouded in the cadence of Moonlight Sonata.  It had always been Skye’s favorite piece of music.

Judy lifted Skye’s paw and nuzzled it, closing her own eyes to hear the mournful notes swimming around them.  As the last notes faded into silence and the crowd stood in applause, Judy felt Skye squeeze her paw.  They stood and made their way out of the concert hall, and when they reached the outside, Skye pulled Judy to her, tightly embracing her.

“Thank you,” whispered Skye.  “That was amazing.”

Judy hugged her back just as tightly, nuzzling into her neck.  “You’re welcome,” replied Judy quietly.  “I’m glad we did this.”  She could hear Skye’s heartbeat, slower than her own but faster than normal in the moment, and the steady rhythm, the cadence of adoration washed over Judy as the music had only minutes prior.  “I’m glad I found you,” she murmured at last.  “I love you.”

Skye kissed her gently on top of her head.  “I love you too.”  She didn’t have to say she heard Judy in her favorite piece of music now; she didn’t have to explain how the notes all invoked thoughts of grey fur and warmth in the night; she didn’t have to reveal how the timeless music sounded like the beats of a rabbit’s heart to her.

It was understood.


	16. Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was prompted by DrummerMax64. It contains some sexual imagery.

It came to Judy slowly, an unbidden revelation of such grandiose subtlety that she didn’t know it was coming until it was upon her.  She coasted along, with him a constant presence, soothing and stressful in equal measure.  Nick was beautiful, a consummate friend, supporting her in her heartache and laughing with her in her joy.  She valued his friendship more than she was willing to admit.

It came to Judy in stolen glances.  She came to their shared apartment one night—or should it be morning?—smelling of alcohol and bedroom exertions, several hours later than she’d anticipated coming home, and he smiled in that way he did, and joked in that way he did.  In Judy’s intoxication and delicious soreness she saw it without seeing it, and the clue passed into the fog of memory by first light.  She saw how he looked at her the next morning, out of the corner of his eye while she stripped out of the sticky panties from the night before and staggered to the bathroom to wash.  That glance like someone had been cut, and perhaps it wasn’t Judy.  Nick was her friend, and she worried for him.

It came to Judy in the nuances of inflection, minute signs of what lay beneath, hinted at in tone but never betrayed in word.  She drifted through a small crowd of suitors, unsatisfied no matter how satisfying the rendezvous.  All suitors, male and female, lacked a certain _something_ , and when she returned home, returned to her best friend, he congratulated her in that sarcastic and joking way of his on her newest conquest.  Each time the smile was slightly more plastic, the words slightly more delusive.  It pained her to see her friend change as he did, and she wondered how to help him.

It came to Judy all at once, like a bomb exploding beside her.  She had brought for the first time one of her paramours to the apartment she shared with Nick, and they hadn’t quite made it past the living room before clothes began disappearing in a drunken haze of unfulfilled _need_.  She hadn’t heard the lock turn in the midst of her pleasure, and thus she was greeted with the growl of her partner standing near, her legs wrapped round the corsac’s waist.  It was at the worst possible moment—when the male upon her began swelling within her—that Nick shattered her shadowed carnal rapture by appearing nearby, his expression that of a broken will and sundered heart.  Nick turned and fled the apartment, leaving a trail of diamond tears and a slammed door, and in the wake of his absence things abruptly became clear.

The truth, she realized with the seed of another running out of her, was that the indefinable _something_ she’d been searching for in all the others had been here all time, hidden by stolen glances and nuances of inflection.  Concealed by her own refusal to even consciously consider risking the friendship she so relied on.

The truth was, she was in love with Nick, and always had been. 

The realization came late.


	17. Cold

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by AeonFeral.

The wind cut across the blazer, stopped by the fabric and leaving Nick comfortable, if not warm.  He was watching Judy, across the street sitting upon the front step of the apartment building they used to live at.  She didn’t seem to notice or care about the freezing weather, merely sat upon the step curled in upon herself.  To a casual observer it would appear that she was huddling against the cold, but to Nick’s practiced eye the truth could be seen:  she was crying.  This was not the first time he’d caught her like this, and he feared it wouldn’t be the last.

He approached her, paws in his pockets, and sat next to her on the concrete step.  “You’re going to freeze to death, Carrots,” said Nick levelly.  “It’s minus sixteen, with the wind chill.”

Judy sniffed, rubbed at her nose with a gloved paw.  “Don’t care.  ‘m okay with freezing.”  Her voice was thick with the tears she’d been steadily shedding for the last few hours, though she had stopped sobbing.

“You don’t mean that.”  Nick put an arm around her and dragged her into his side, wrapping her in one half of his unzipped blazer.  “And if you do, then I’m gonna have to veto that idea.  I can’t do this without you, Judy.”

Judy pulled away and glared up at him.  “You haven’t shed one tear, Nick,” she accused.  “Don’t tell me you can’t do it.”

Nick met her gaze impassively and sighed.  “Jude….”  He shook his head and looked up into the night.  “Jude, I lost her once.  I mourned her for years.  No, I’ve not cried.  But that doesn’t mean I’m unaffected.  I’ve been through this once before.”  He pulled her into him again, wrapping her in the warmth of his jacket once more.  “Besides…I think I’m in shock.  I was _there_ , darling.  I watched it happen, and I think…I’m still processing it.”

Judy nestled into his side, wrapping her half-frozen limbs around him.  “She didn’t come back.”

Nick pulled her into his lap proper, holding her tight.  “What do you mean?”

Judy swallowed hard, fighting back the sobs she felt coming.  “She promised, Nick.  Skye promised that if she died, she’d come back.  I haven’t seen her or felt her presence at _all_.”

“Judy—“

“ _She promised!_ ”  Judy’s cry was half strangled and punctuated with her tiny fist pounding into his chest.  The choking sobs returned and she buried herself in Nick even as he squeezed her tight, his own tears beginning to flow.

Nearby, a raven croaked the midnight hour.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ravens are seen in many traditions as messengers of the dead.
> 
> This one was partially inspired by [this](http://ittybittykittytittys.tumblr.com/post/169560903813/something-i-made-for-an-ff-event) drawing by Ittybittykittytittys on tumblr. It's in the _It Takes Three_ timeline, but is not canon.


	18. Jewel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by DrummerMax64.

Skye’s paw trailed along the glass case daintily as she gazed deeply into it.  The display counter held numerous collars of all types:  metal wire, Kevlar with buckles, polyester.  They ranged in price from only a few bucks—the dark wool with knotted clasp—to thousands—the woven gold with diamond and ruby studs—and they were all beautiful. 

Her heart hurt just to see them. 

“Looking to propose?” asked the very round porcupine who ran the shop.  She’d just finished up with a customer and waddled over to Skye with a pleasant grin.

Skye jerked her paw back and looked up at the porcupine with a pained smile.  “No, I’m afraid not.”

“Oh, why ever not?”  The porcupine clasped her paws and leaned on the counter with an intrigued look.  “Are his parents not supportive?  Ooh, no, it’s a her, isn’t it?  Maybe not a fox at all?”

Skye’s smile faded a bit and she shook her head.  “It’s…complicated.  Suffice it to say, marrying isn’t really an option for us.”

The porcupine nodded sagely.  “I understand, honey.  You take your time, and if things change you come on back.  Pretty thing like you shouldn’t have to look so glum.”

Skye nodded her appreciation and the porcupine left her to herself.  She looked back into the case at the collars arranged there and she thought about what it would feel like to wear one, showing the world that she belonged to another mammal and that another mammal belonged to her.  It would never come to be, though, because the laws were very clear about multiple-partner marriage.

She heaved a sigh and wandered out of the shop, walking down the sidewalk in the vague direction of home.  She’d walked out of the apartment she shared with her partners Nick and Judy over an hour ago leaving them to watch the twins, badly needing some time to herself.  She’d seen the kits she’d made with Nick’s help, only a couple weeks old, playing with their father while their other mom sat nearby preparing milk for them and Skye had been overcome simultaneously with the feeling of rightness…and the feeling that something profound was missing. 

Most families would be married.  Judy and Nick would be married, soon, of course, had been engaged since long before Skye crashed into their lives and turned things on their heads.  Judy and Nick would get their happily ever after complete with legal recognition and all the rights that came along with that.  But Skye would forever be absent from that.  The laws, after all, were quite clear about multiple-partner marriage.  She’d never be allowed to see Judy in the hospital as next of kin; would never be able to share in parental leave with Nick; her gut had clenched and soured and rather than own up to her feelings and ruin the pleasant atmosphere, she’d fled.

When she reentered the apartment they were there waiting, twin babies on laps and twin expressions of worry on faces.  They were the jewels of her heart, and they waited for her.

 _It’s home_ , she told herself.  _I don’t need a marriage certificate to validate what we have_.  She wasn’t sure she was convinced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is canon to _It Takes Three_ , but Selaxes wasn't informed about it prior to writing or publishing. We've discussed these feelings Skye has been having, though. This, or a version of it, may be the beginning to a possible new _It Takes Three_ sequel, so you might consider this a sneak peek :)


End file.
